Thomas
Thomas is a cheeky small blue tank engine who runs the Ffarquhar Branch Line with his best friends Percy, Toby and Mavis, and his two coaches named Annie and Clarabel. Bio Early life (1913-1945) Thomas was built in 1915, and he arrived on Sodor in May of the same year. He was not supposed to work on Sodor, but a mix-up in Southern England led to him being sent to Sodor instead of his lazy brother 107, who was sent to the meat factory in Ireland where Thomas was supposed to be. Sir Topham Hatt chose to keep him because his brother refused to leave. He helped to build the North Western Railway. After the railway was built, he served as a station pilot who shunted coaches for engines like Edward, Eagle, Henry, and Gordon. He found the job very boring, and often wanted to see the world. In 1923/1945 (1925 in the RWS Universe), he did get two chances, for this, but they both went wrong. He left his coaches behind at the station while not realizing, and was pushed much too fast by some very Troublesome Trucks. However, in the same year, he was rewarded his own branch line after saving James from a nasty accident. He was also given his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel. Later years (1945-1990) Thomas' first few years running his own branch line were quite eventful, and made new friends, a red bus named Bertie whom raced him, and a tractor named Terence, who rescued Thomas when he got caught in a snowdrift. When Percy arrived, Thomas and Edward began working the Main Line while Percy worked on Thomas' branch line. In 1951, Thomas got into trouble after he discovered that the line going from Ffarquhar to the Anopha Quarry only allowed engines with cowcatchers and side plates. Luckily, The Fat Controller was able to find a solution: Toby, a tram engine he had meet on his holiday. Toby arrived a few days later, and the two engines became close friends. When Thomas went off to the Toyreck Mines, he passed a danger sign out of curiosity, and fell into a mine. Gordon came to his rescue, much to the tank engine's dismay. After Sir Topham Hatt declared that he would take his engines to England after seven BR Engines had come to work while he, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby and Duck went to England. The day before this was to happen, Thomas boasted to Jinty about his race with Bertie, only to crash into a set of buffers, but was repaired just in time. In 1960, Thomas' driver mentioned that he had almost manage without him. This made Thomas conceited, and boasted about this to Percy and Toby. But his words got the better of him when he went off to breakfast at the Ffarquhar's Stationmaster's house the next morning. Donald and Douglas pulled him back to the yard and he was sent to Crovan's Gate to have his front end straightened. He didn't enjoy his time at the works. Thomas mentioned it was nice to be mended again, but they replaced so many of his old parts that he wasn't sure if he was him or another engine. In 1990, Thomas was invited by the National Railway Museum to represent the North Western Railway in the Great Railway Show, an event showcasing many famous engines across the UK. Thomas was excited, but the journey to York was shaky; he damaged his front bufferbeam when he hit a crossing gate and the lorry he was travelling on was booked for parking illegally. Thomas was repaired when he arrived at the Museum and befriended Green Arrow while he was being mended, though he continued to have bad luck when he ran into a bag thrown onto the line and frightened a small child. Fortunately, Thomas managed to make up for his bad luck when, as he was double-heading a railtour with Green Arrow, he noticed the line up ahead was damaged and stopped the train. As a reward for his actions, Thomas was made an honorary member of the National Railway Museum and received a commemorative plaque. Afterwards, Thomas left York and returned to Sodor. Golden years (1990-present) In 1991/3, he had a few mishaps on his branchline: he derailed one hot day, and had an encounter with a frog after James and Gordon had tricked him. One day in 2014, an unknown engine raced past the engines and whistled loudly. Then the engines, including Thomas, decided to find out who it is. One night, Thomas went to sleep in a freight shed. 20 minutes later, Thomas heard the unknown engine's whistle and follow it down the old line on the Ffarquhar Branch. When Thomas reached the quarry where the line ended, he discovered the engine in the shed. Thomas told the engine not to be afraid to come out, but he said that he is afraid. Then he decided to give a clue to Thomas. He said, "Older and old, except one. 170 (actually 158 years) since my time begun. 'Ugly, but kind', the little red one (Skarloey) called me, as I unloaded him from the ship at sea." When the doors were flung open, the engine revealed that he was Neil, much to Thomas' surprise. In 2018, he told the story of Timothy. Personality Thomas is described as being a cheeky, fussy engine. He often gets into scrapes, usually by being over eager to do things best left to bigger and more sensible engines. But clouds never last long in Thomas' life and he is soon bustling about again, playing his part in the yard and on his very own branch line, of which he is extremely proud. He loves teasing the others, especially the bigger engines, such as Gordon and on occasion brags about his superiority, but is always brought down to earth in due course by anyone willing to correct him, especially the Fat Controller and his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel. If Thomas has one major character flaw, it is that he is forgetful and rather impatient. However, he is also optimistic, idealistic and altruistic with a heart of gold. A friend to all engines and a popular member of the Fat Controller’s Railway, Thomas is No.1 and does his best every day to live up to that through helping his friends and those that he cares about. He lives to be a Really Useful Engine and encourages everyone else to do the same. He likes to be better than James and Bertie in races. He can, however, also get annoyed about being useful such as the time when Rosie followed him around because she idolized him so much. Despite all this, he does have his pride, and will sometimes take wrong advice at the wrong time - such as from Ace or Sailor John, as well as refusing help even when he needs it. Livery Thomas is painted in NWR sky blue with red lining. His number is painted on the sides of his tanks in yellow with red lining and the lining around his cab windows is yellow. In The Adventure Begins, Thomas was originally painted teal-green with white lining. He had the initials "LBSC" and the number 70 painted on the sides of his tanks and cab respectively in yellow with red lining and his wheel rims were painted white. In the first three series of the television series, Thomas had the red lining on the back of his coal bunker, but during the production of the third series episode, All at Sea, the lining was removed. The lining was reapplied in The Adventure Begins. Trainz Models SI3D's 2010 model of Thomas was used in the first half of the first season, Haunted Henry, and the majority of How the Diesel Stole Christmas. Then SI3D's 2012 "Christmas" model was used. The regular 2012 model made its debut in Stuck!, and has been used ever since. Basis Thomas is based on the LB&SCR Class E2 0-6-0T, particularly the second batch of locomotives built with extended side-tanks. These engines were built by Brighton Works between 1913-1916 to replace the aging Stroudley E1 class and were primarily used for heavy shunting and short-distance goods trains in the London area and on the south coast. During their final working years, the E2 class worked as shunting engines at Southampton Docks alongside the USATC S100 Tank Engines (Rosie's basis), until they were replaced by the BR Class 07 diesel shunters (Salty’s basis). All of the E2s were scrapped, with none surviving into preservation. In 2016, word has been going around about a new one being built, with a blue livery and wheel splashers like Thomas himself, though this is debatable. Thomas has several major differences from the original E2 class. He is much shorter in length than his original basis, he has two extra windows on the sides of his cab and he has wheel splashers, something the original E2 class lacked. In early volumes of The Railway Series and the television series, Thomas' footplate is dipped at the front, but oddly enough is not dipped at the back. In Branch Line Engines, his footplate was leveled out from smokebox to bunker. Appearances The Engines of Sodor Season 1 * A Wretched Day for Henry and James (spoke in original script) * Gordon Goes Swimming (part 1 only) * Bill and Ben the Brave Brothers of Brendam (mentioned) * Stuck! (cameo) * Engine Unknown * A Tale of a Small Green Engine * The Runaway Railcar (does not speak) * Attack of the Railway Pirates (appears in credits still) Season 2 * Old Reliable (does not speak) * Special Engines (cameo) Season 3 * Double Muddle * The Devious Diesel (cameo) * Sent Packing * Duke's Reunion * A Breakthrough Discovery Season 4 * Steaming Sausage * Diesels and Dragons * Painful Memories * The Creature * A Turning Point for Edward (cameo, appears in flashback) * End of the Line for Edward Season 5 * Ivo Hugh's Safari (cameo) * Highly Sprung (cameo) * Gordon Pops In * A Tale of Two Small Green Engines (cameo) * Trouble in the 'Hood * The Tale of Timothy Specials * Haunted Henry (part 1 only) * How the Diesel Stole Christmas * The Search for Smudger (cameo) * The Most Famous Engine (cameo) * Night Express to Vicarstown * Revenge of the Ghost Train The Engines of Sodor Finale * Tarnished Legacy * Phantom Saboteur * Wrath on the Rails NWR Origins Season 1 * Tank Engine Mixup * Two's Company * The Trouble with Three * Pride of the LNER * Disgrace of the LNER * Splendid Red * Great Western Escape (cameo) Season 2 * Little Green Menace * Troublesome Twins * Feisty Girl (cameo) * A True Diesel (cameo) Thomas1Edward2Henry3's Railway Series More Branch Line Engines * Coach Trouble (cameo) * Right on Traction (cameo) * Double Teething Troubles * Derek and Gordon (appears in flashback, cameo) Thomas1Edward2Henry3's Remakes * Toby's Discovery * Horrid Lorry * Granpuff * Something in the Air * Bye George! * A Better View for Gordon (cameo) * Thomas and Gordon/Thomas Gets Tricked * James and the Trouble With Trees * Edward and Gordon/Edward Helps Out (not named; does not speak) * Thomas and the Rumors * Thomas, Percy and Old Slow Coach * Escape (cameo) * Gordon and Spencer * The Sad Story of Henry/Come Out Henry! (does not speak) * Off the Rails/Gordon Takes a Dip (cameo) Voice Actors * Thomas1Edward2Henry3: Episode II-Haunted Henry, T1E2H3's RWS & EOS S3-S5 * RightonTracks10: How the Diesel Stole Christmas-A Tale of a Small Green Engine * JakerBraker123: NWR Origins-Wrath on the Rails RWS Appearances Thomas first appeared in the second Railway Series book Thomas the Tank Engine. TV Appearances Since Thomas is the main character of the show, he obviously appears in every season and special. Since he gets too much attention, T1E2H3 wants to give every engine a chance to have a role. From Hero of the Rails up until Season 18, he was voiced by Ben Small and Martin Sherman in the UK and US dubs respectively. Starting in The Adventure Begins, he is currently voiced by John Hasler (UK) and Joseph May (US). Trivia * When T1E2H3 voices him from Season 3 onwards, Thomas has a cockney London accent due to where his basis worked. It may also be a reference to Johnny Morris' Narration and/or JakerBraker123's Thomas voice. * Despite being the main character of the real TV show, Thomas has had only three lead roles in The Engines of Sodor. In Engine Unknown (and even that is debatable as he never appeared until the second half of the episode but was the one who found Neil), Double Muddle, and The Tale of Timothy. This is so that the other engines can get a chance to do so, and the show doesn't just focus on him like the TV series does so. * Since The Engines of Sodor is based off Thomas and Friends, he obviously appears in every intro. * Thomas is obviously almost everyone's favorite character from worldwide since he's the title. Category:Protagonists Category:Steam Team Category:Characters Category:0-6-0 Category:Steam Locomotives Category:Heroes Category:Tank Engines Category:North Western Railway Engines Category:LB&SCR Category:Awdry Characters